California Latino GDP surges past $1 trillion, CLU/UCLA report finds
If California Latinos comprised their own state, their GDP would be the nation’s sixth-largest state GDP, according to a report released July 23 by researchers at California Lutheran University and UCLA.
In 2023, the California Latino GDP surpassed $1 trillion, the 2025 California Latino GDP Report found.
“Latinos’ participation in the California economy is more active, more intense than that of non-Latinos,” Matthew Fienup, executive director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks said in a press release.
Fienup co-authored the study with David Hayes-Bautista, distinguished professor of medicine at UCLA.
“The importance of rapid Latino growth rates and the intensity of economic activity they represent cannot be overstated,” Fienup said.
The research focused on a wide range of economic indicators, including population and labor force, labor force participation, educational attainment, consumption and more.
The results revealed that California’s Latino labor force is growing 15 times faster than the non-Latino labor force.
Latino educational attainment is increasing 3.4 times quicker than that of non-Latinos, and Latinos are 5.6% more likely to be actively working than non-Latinos, according to the report.
The state’s Latinos also enjoy better health outcomes, with lower age-adjusted mortality across all five leading causes of death and a life expectancy that is more than two years longer than that of non-Latinos, the researchers found.
The report also highlights the importance of California’s Latino immigrant population.
In 2023, 41% of working-age Latinos in California were immigrants, according to the study.
Applying that share to the California Latino GDP, the researchers estimate that Latino immigrants are responsible for nearly $400 billion in annual economic output in the state.
